Friends,

This coming Sunday is big in the life of the Church! Pentecost is when we remember the disciples receiving the gifts of the spirit. The passage from Acts describing the day of Pentecost is one of my favorites. Not only is it great story telling and profound, it also is a bit silly with Peter proclaiming to the bewildered crowd witnessing these followers of Christ speaking to them in their native language, “Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:..” When seeing the birth of the Church everyone assumed they were witnessing a group of drunks. We come from a religious tradition that loves order, intention and decorum. I bet most Episcopalians would have been rubbed the wrong way seeing this miraculous event as the disciples poured into the street filled with the power of the spirit.

From a religious point of view, I commend you to go to Church on Sunday. So much is happening in the life of the Church, that I am going to give you my disjointed thoughts. Being the Church is what binds these random thoughts together, which is appropriate considering Pentecost is here, but they share little else in common.

Movings

First and foremost, we are entering the season when beloved members of the Church are moving away. People tend to move in the summer considering school schedules, and considering we have so many military families, our people move often. The Manous family are moving to Georgia, where Joe will take a position teaching at Georgia Tech. They have been at St. Luke’s for nearly twenty years, Joe has served as our senior warden and is an usher at both services, and is well known for being the best bell ringer. Andrew Manous is the person responsible that the Nave is nice and neat. Do you or your children draw on those yellow cards? You have Andrew to thank for that. Kristen has been one of nursery workers since we had workers in the nursery three or so years ago. They will be tremendously missed.

The Fairley Family showed up about three-year ago and immediately got incredibly involved in the Church. Alan is In the Marine Corps and is being stationed in Japan. Japan is already a special place for Alan and his wife Taylor and they are excited to show Japan to their children Peyton and Logan. We hope to see them back in a few years, but they will be tremendously missed in the meantime. Fairleys thank you for taking the initiative to make St. Luke’s your church home so quickly, so we had the gift of getting to know you that much more.

Changes

With summer upon us, we are about to change our rhythm. All the normal changes will happen, like Sunday School going on hiatus, the choir taking their summer break, and the 9:00 am outdoor service starting up on June 15th. In many ways we take a step back in the summer to give our vibrant ministries a break, but in a lot of way we try to step up, like doing the outdoor service every week.

If you have not been to the outdoor service, I encourage you to give it a shot. Keep in mind that while 8:00 and 10:00 are made with adults in mind and children are invited; the outdoor service is made with a four-year-old in mind, and you are invited.

So, you know how the choir goes on break. They don’t practice like they normally do, nor do they put on their vestments, but we still have music? I always get used to the more laid-back music ministry over the summer, and when they come back in full-force, I am always blown away at the difference it makes. Sometimes an absence can increase our appreciation. What if we took that concept and applied to another area of ministry?

We are going to try something different and apply this idea to the altar guild. After this Sunday the altar guild will be on break for the summer. There will be no hangings, candles, and usually no flowers. The Book of Common Prayer only indicates that the altar should be covered in a clean white cloth. Everything else is optional. In addition to this clean white cloth, we’ll have the bare minimum to celebrate the Eucharist. If you come to an indoor service over the summer, I bet you will find it to look incredibly different, and I especially encourage you to go if your instinct is to stay away unless things look a particular way. Be reminded that the Church can still work without these things, and when they do return in September then they will appear that much more beautiful.

My intention with this change is to increase our collective appreciation for this ministry, and to see that these beautiful things are fruit of our love of God and neighbor. They are not the plant itself, but the result of being rooted in that divine love. We gather on Sunday morning to worship God and to dwell in God’s love. Everything else like our music, hangings, flowers, grill nights and nurseries are good and holy things, but always secondary.

Blessings,

Nick